Hand luggage



I Feb. 1, 1938. H. D. GIHON, 3D 2,107,180

HAND LUGGAGE Filed Jan. 25, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 1, 1938. H. D. GIHON, 3D

HAND LUGGAGE Filed Jan. 25, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Elma/wile! Patented Feb. '1, 193a UNITED STATES 1 'ral-rr OFFICE 2.10am mum npcoacs Harry n. cum, 3rd, mm, N. .1. Application January 25. mo, Serial at. 60,851 a 1 Claim. (01. 19048)- This invention relates to improvements in hand luggage, and more particularly to a light and compact type of hand luggage.

It is an object of this invention to provide light 5 weight luggage of a conventional shape for convenience of travel, especially by air, although by no means limited to such travel as this luggage also has features which are of particular advantage for vehicle travel. 10

vide a piece of hand luggage in which suits or dresses may be confined upon hanger means with a minimum of crushing or wrinkling.

With the above and other objects in view as will be evident from the following detailed description, the invention consists of the improved hand luggage, and its parts and combinations as set forth in the claim, and all equivalents thereof.

In the accompanying drawings the same reference characters indicate like parts in all of the views:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the piece of hand luggage in its closed position;

Fig. 2 is an end view thereof; 4

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the inside of the luggage in fully opened position;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 4-3 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional View on line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view on line 6-6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. '7 is a. sectional view on line 1-1. of Fig. 3;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view on line 8-3 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 9 is a view of the inside of the luggage showing a modified form of reinforcing;

ing another modified form of reinforcing and Fig. 11 is a view of the inside removable covering member.

Referring now more particularly to the improved piece of luggage it will be seen that l2 designates a piece of luggage that is conventional in appearance, being of the type of hand luggage well known as Gladstone. However if desired the particular outline and shape of the luggage may be modified provided only that my improve- 7 ments and the utility thereof are retained. The sidewalls consist of the members l3 and M which may be of canvas, cloth, leather or any suitable material of any desired weight and may have a 5 backing if desired, although it is preferred that the side walls be of light weight flexible material. The end pieces l and i6 are each U shaped and may be of the same material as the sidewall pieces. These end pieces are secured to the out- 55 side edges of the sidewall pieces by stitching as at I! through a suitable binder placed over the adjacent edges of the sidewall and end pieces. The bottom is shown at l3 and is joined to the sidewall pieces I3 and It by means of the strips 60 I3 and 20. These strips may be of leather or It is a further object of this invention to pro-' Fig. is a view similar to that of Fig. 9 show-' any suitable flexible material. The bottom I3 is made up of the rectangular piece of canvas or other suitable material 2| on the outside as shown in Figs. 4 and 8. Next to the piece 2| is the reinforcing or backing member 22 which may be of heavy fibre or wood or any other heavy stiifening material; The inside face of the member 22 is covered with the canvas 23. It will be noted that the sidewall l3 extends as far as the strip is to which it is fastened by stitching and that the strip i3 is in turn fastened by stitching to the bottom pieces 2|, 22, and 23. Likewise the sidewall piece I4 is fastened to the strip 20 which in turn is fastened to the other edges of the pieces 2!, 22, and 23. The. sidewall pieces l3 and i4 and the bottom piece 2! are shown as separate members for ease in manufacturing but if desired, the both sidewalls and the bottom may be made from a single piece of material. The end pieces l5 and it have been described as stitched to the outside edges of the sidewall pieces and this stitching continues down to the bottom It as edge to edge joining of the end pieces and the sidewall pieces. When the bottom It is reached the end pieces are turned and laid flat against the bottom and secured to the. bottom by stitching as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 8. In these figures the pieces l5 and i6 are shown as turned under the two leather pieces 24 and 25 and stitched between the leather pieces and the bottom l8 along substantially V shaped lines thus fastening the end pieces fiat against the bottom. Enough play is allowed in the end pieces before being fastened flat so that the luggage may be opened to the fiat position shown in Figs. 3 and 4. To the open edge of the end' pieces I! and i6 is secured the zipper closing or hookless fastener device 26 which extends for the full length of the open edges from the point 28 on each end piece around the same to the point 21. It will be noted that due to the manner of securing the end pieces l5 and It to the bottom I3 that the points 23 and 21 on each end piece are in close enough proximity that the zipper device 26 starting at one of the said points will act to close the end pieces edge to edge as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 as the zipper closing element is moved from one point to the other. Likewise in opening the luggage, moving the zipper from one point to the other will completely open the same to the fiat position described. The strap 29 for a purpose to be de-- scribed, is secured under the leather pieces 24 and 23 and is stitched in place with the same stitches that hold the said leather pieces. By means of the snaps 30 the strap may be opened and closed and adjusted as to length.

Secured to the inner face of the sidewall I are the reinforcing members 3i and 32 held fast by the rivets 33 and 34. This reinforcing may be made of fibre, wood, or metal or any other suitable material. The purpose is to keep the flexible material ofthe luggage in outstretched or I stifl'ened position. As shown in Fig. 'I this reinforcement II is not included in the stitching I! through the outside binding, but if desired it may be included in this stitching.

As was pointed out there is the strip 2| along one bottom edge and as shown in Fig. 7 this has the backing ll under the same and extending horizontally across the luggage. This backing is a reinforce member of any suitable material d'escribed and is secured by the stitching holding the strip 20 in place and also by the rivets 34 as in said Fig. 7. There is a similar backing under the strip I! which is secured-in a similar manner. Along the outside face of the sidewall i4 is the leather strip 36 shown in Figs. land 6. The, leather acts as a trim and at the same time conceals the reinforcing backing strip 31 of any suitable material. The strip 31 extends all the way across the luggage and is secured in position by the stitching which holds the leather 36 in place and which is shown in Fig. ,6. In addi-.

'tion the rivets 33 holding the members 3i and 32 in place also hold the strip II as shown in Fig. 1. To the sidewall ll through the reinforced area of the strip 31 is fastened the conventional handle 28 by means of the usual-rivets.

The sidewall II is provided with reinforcing members similar to the reinforcing members in the sidewall It. In addition in fastening the conventional handle II to the sidewall IS the rivets used also fasten the flbre piece 39, Fig, 3, to the inside face of the sidewall. To this piece ll is secured the rectangular shaped ring 40 which may take either of two positions. One is flat with the sidewall as in Fig. 3 and the other is perpendicular to the sidewall it when it is desired to use the ring 40 to support the usual clothes hanger means.

A modification is shown in Fig. 9 in which the luggage is substantially the same except for the reinforcing means. Here instead of the two strips 3i and 22 for each sidewall, an open rectangular shaped member ii is used to spread open the sidewall and one is used in each sidewall. This member 4| is secured in position, after the luggage is otherwise formed, by means of rivets passing through the sidewalls. When using the rectangular shaped reinforcement, the other separate reinforcing members ll, 32, 35, and 31 may be omitted if desired or the members 35 and I! may be retained beneath the leather strips.

Another modification is shown in Fig. 10 and this consists of the replacing of the strip membets/Ii and 22 by the wire or wood rods 42 which then act as the vertical reinforcing members for the sidewalls. The members 42 have holes at the ends thereof by which with the use of rivets, the members are secured to the'sidewalls. v

Shown in Fig. 11 is the inside hanging bag or member 43 provided with the hook 44 which has wire stays extending over the width of the bag. Withthishookthebagllmaybehungonthe ring ll after the luggage is filled or by means of the hook the bag may be hung upon any convenient hook outside of the luggage, thus making a convenient way of quickly unloading the luggage. 'Ihis bag ismade of suitable fabric and has the envelopes ll and 41 having the snap fastened flaps ll and I, for holding apparel, preferably although not-necessarily, shirts. The envelopes make up the top and bottom of the bag, corresponding to the sidewalls of the lugloge when in position therein. Between the said envelopes are the snap fastened covered pockets 4. and pocket ll extends from the edge of the bag .to the point Ii where the end of the pocket is sewn to the base of the bags. The pocket 50 extends from the opposite edge of the bag to the point 52 where the end of this pocket is sewn to the outer wall of the pocket 49. In this way each pocket is longer than one half the width of the bag and each pocket. is separate from the other. These pockets make ideal receiving spaces for shoes. Secured to the pocket 50 is the zipper closed upstanding receptacle bag 53.

It will be. noted from Fig. 2 that the widest portion of the luggage, .endwise, is at the bottom of the bag and that the bag 43 when in position in the closed luggage will be folded with the pockets l9 and 50 along the bottom ll of the luggage and the envelopes 45 and 41 along the sidewalls l3 and It. The strap 29 is adapted to be used to keep the bag .48 in position in the luggage and to keep any garments that have been placed upon ring 40 by means of the usual hanger means, 'in position. It will also be noted that any clothes that have been hung upon the ring 40 with a hanger will extend down along one sidewall and across the bottom ll, which is the widest part of the luggage endwise, and then along the other sidewall 14.

It will be apparent that I have provided a piece of hand luggage of conventional shape which will allow clothes to be hung therein upon hanger means and that the entire piece of luggage may be opened flat so that it may be itself hung up upon any convenient hook, thus making it adaptable for vehicle travel.

It will also be apparent that I have provided light weight flexible luggage with reinforcements of such a nature as to keep the flexible material in outstretched vgage.

The usual studs may be placed upon the under surface of the bottom l8 to stand the luggage upon without marring the material of which the bottom is made. A

I claim:

A luggage bag comprising a main body consisting of hingedly interjoined main side and bottom sections adapted'when the bag is opened to extend in a common plane, but wherein said side sections are folded relative to said bottom section and'toward one another to close the bag, frame means for stifl'ening said side and bottom sections, said main side and bottom sections having flexible marginal sections extending from the said main sections to form top and end walls of the bag when closed, said marginal sections having hookless fastener means along the entire length of the exposed edges of the same to close the bag, the said marginal sections extending from the side sections and secured along the edges thereof andsecured to the bottom section along substantially V shaped lines, the walls of the V meeting the edges' of the bottom section at the fold line, handles secured to the bag substantially position as in conventional lug- III which are overlapping. That is the at the upper outside end of the said main side section.

HARRY D. GIHON, San. 

